WoW loses another 800,000 subscribers

The Mists of Pandaria expansion is aimed at casual and hardcore gamers

The popular MMO World of Warcraft has lost an additional 800,000 subscribers since Blizzard’s last financial report. Three months ago, Blizzard had reported that WoW’s numbers had dropped from 12 million players, in 2010, to 11.1 million subscribers.

Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime said that the majority of losses were in “the East” but did not explain further. However, he also blamed the losses on WoW’s last expansion, Cataclysm, citing the fact that it catered more to hardcore gamers with its end-game content, with very little for casual gamers.

Mists of Pandaria is expected to correct that oversight by offering casual content such as the pet battle system but should still appeal to the hardcore audience.

Morhaime, talking about the Mists of Pandaria, said “It’s really not intended to go out and drive new user acquisition, that’s a whole other strategy. But it does drive engagement with the game, and so that will impact if we do it successfully as players tell each other about the content they’re enjoying.”

Related content from ZergNet

I’m very surprised that this game is still chugging along as well as it is to be honest.

http://www.press2reset.com Sean Knight

World of Warcraft continues to defy everyone’s expectations. No one would have thought that it would still be so strong after being out for seven years.

keltar93

I’m not that surprised. They were so massive for so long, they had to drop eventually. I’m thinking the decline will continue, especially when key new titles like SWTOR, The Secret World, and Guild Wars 2 start launching. Still, I’m guessing they’ll stay going for a few more years, at least until 2014 (the tenth anniversary), and they’ll see a spike in new users when Mists of Pandaria hits next year.

http://www.press2reset.com Sean Knight

Yeah, WoW will still be around for a well. As for Mists of Pandaria helping to spike the numbers that will depend upon whether or not the MMOs out at the time are able to lure people away from WoW and keep them interested.

mrwhyte

WoW will be along for a long time, but MoP is just helping them slide into f2p. They are dumbing down the game immensely so they can start not having to tweak things so often. Introducing store items you can sell legally in-game. It will last for years, but eventually it will turn into the real mindless pile of garbage it truly is.